Raja M. Shanmugham, President and R. Senthilkumar, Joint Secretary of Tirupur Exporters’ Association met Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Industries and explained the Tirupur knitwear industry issues.
In a press statement, Raja said that the Minister was receptive and assured to co-operate and support for the growth of the industry.
They also called on Industry Secretary Muruganandam to pursue the matters further and he was also very receptive and gave valuable suggestions for the future growth plans.
TEA urged to increase the state’s focus on upskilling, labour housing and quarters in Tirupur and requested to implement the announcements made in the Tamil Nadu New Integrated Textile Policy 2019 at the earliest.
The association also insisted on favourable labour laws, support for market promotion requisition to help constitute knitwear board, support for product diversification and overall good infrastructure, etc.
Notably, Tirupur cluster comprises 95 per cent of MSMEs, recorded a turnover of Rs. 50,000 crore (including exports and domestic) in 2019-20 and employs around 6 lakh labours, out of which, 65 per cent of the labours are semi-literate women workforce hailing from rural areas.
Its turnover got reduced to Rs. 45,000 crore due to the impact of first wave of COVID-19 and sadly the industry is again struggling owing to the second wave.
